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Tax Law

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Estate planning

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Merger Is Indirect Gift In Cavallaro, Kerry A. Ryan Jan 2015

Merger Is Indirect Gift In Cavallaro, Kerry A. Ryan

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In Cavallaro v. Commissioner, the Tax Court held that a merger of two family-owned businesses resulted in a substantial taxable gift. The taxpayers avoided penalties by demonstrating that they relied in good faith on the mistaken advice of competent tax advisers.


The New Super-Charged Pat (Power Of Appointment Trust), Wendy G. Gerzog Oct 2011

The New Super-Charged Pat (Power Of Appointment Trust), Wendy G. Gerzog

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This article proposes to repeal the QTIP provisions in order to collect revenue now for transfers that are essentially transfers to third parties and not to the decedent's spouse. Because there are advantages of increased flexibility attendant to a QTIP as opposed to a PAT, this article proposes to take those repealed QTIP benefits and attach them to the PAT, which would greatly enhance that marital deduction trust form. A super-charged PAT would thereby be able to preserve the decedent's GST tax exemption (like a reverse QTIP), create a decedent's by-pass trust by allowing a PAT (or a partial PAT) …


Shape Up Or Ship Out: Accountability To Third Parties For Patent Ambiguities In Testamentary Documents, Angela M. Vallario Jan 2004

Shape Up Or Ship Out: Accountability To Third Parties For Patent Ambiguities In Testamentary Documents, Angela M. Vallario

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The attorney's preparation of a testamentary document (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a will or revocable trust) should clearly and accurately reflect the client's last wishes. Although these testamentary documents should reflect the client's intent, they often fall short of accomplishing that goal. There are numerous examples of will and trust construction cases that exhaust tremendous resources in an effort to ascertain the client's wishes or intent. Many of these cases involve the construction of patent and/or latent ambiguities which should have been resolved by appropriate drafting. This article's scope is limited to patent ambiguities caused by the attorney's negligence …